“The Big Lebowski” + Shakespeare = “Two Gentlemen of Lebowski”

At first glance, the Coen Brother’s 1998 cult classic “The Big Lebowski” has nothing to do with William Shakespeare’s “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.” The former is a quirky surrealist film involving bowling, porn starlets and nihilists, while the latter is a minor work by the Bard about the silly actions of men (and women) in love. But look a little closer, suggests 27-year-old Adam Bertocci, author of “Two Gentlemen of Lebowski,” a literary mashup that re-imagines the Coen Brother’s film in iambic pentameter.

“Shakespeare’s themes, like profanity and sexual humor, are certainly present in the Coen’s work,” said the Bronxville-based filmmaker/editor. “And in ‘The Big Lebowski’ in particular, there are a lot of Shakespearean references.”

Bertocci first came up for the idea for the “Two Gentlemen of Lebowski” — which reimages Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski as Geoffry “The Knave” Lebowski — last November. He was brainstorming and posting funny faux-Shakespearean translations to his Facebook status page, when he realized that a full-written script would be an excellent publicity stunt to raise awareness for his own unpublished screenplays. So in mid-December, he banged out his “Lebowski” mashup in a weekend and spent the next couple of weeks honing the language.

Bertocci says that the writing of the play didn’t take that long because it’s 99% based on the original “Lebowski” shooting script. Rather, it was the revising process that required more time, as the writer applied specifics of Shakespeare’s writing and grammar — such as when to use “thy” versus “thine” — to his dialogue. (For example, the Dude’s final line “Yeah man. Well, you know, the Dude abides” becomes “Thou know’st. The Knave abideth.”)

Since posting the script on his Web site on Wednesday, “Two Gentlemen of Lebowski” has gone viral. Bertocci began by only mentioning his project on Facebook and the Web site SomethingAwful.com, but it was soon picked up by the Twitterverse — including actress Alyssa Milano’s feed — and now he’s fending calls from theatrical companies eager to put on productions of his work.

Bertocci says he’s been getting requests to perform his mash-up play from all over the world, and he’s happy to oblige. The production he’s most closely attached to, however, is with DM Theatrics‘s upcoming staging of the play in New York. What about the annual Lebowski Fest in Louisville, Kentucky? Are they interested?

“They certainly know about it,” said Bertocci. “We’ll see. This whole thing is moving forward much faster than I thought.”